Just finished Rat Pack Confidential by Shawn Levy, a whistle stop autobiography of the five Summit stars. Well worth a read. Some of the shit they got away with...

Reading Rubicon by Tom Holland. Breezy and a good read.

Also attempting to finish the Gormenghast Trilogy again. Seventh try at it.

If you enjoyed Rat Pack Confidential, you might like Hellraisers by Robert Sellers, about the life and high times of Richard Harris, Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and Oliver Reed. Not my usual tipple and it won't have won any prizes, but it's very entertaining.

Sample - POT is in a play in the West End. He finishes his last scene of the first half and nips into the pub next door. He meets a friend there and after a few quick ones, he sneaks him back into an empty box to watch the second half. "You'll like this next scene", whispers POT, "this is when I...sh*t".

Just finished Rat Pack Confidential by Shawn Levy, a whistle stop autobiography of the five Summit stars. Well worth a read. Some of the shit they got away with...

Reading Rubicon by Tom Holland. Breezy and a good read.

Also attempting to finish the Gormenghast Trilogy again. Seventh try at it.

If you enjoyed Rat Pack Confidential, you might like Hellraisers by Robert Sellers, about the life and high times of Richard Harris, Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and Oliver Reed. Not my usual tipple and it won't have won any prizes, but it's very entertaining.

Sample - POT is in a play in the West End. He finishes his last scene of the first half and nips into the pub next door. He meets a friend there and after a few quick ones, he sneaks him back into an empty box to watch the second half. "You'll like this next scene", whispers POT, "this is when I...sh*t".

Hellraisers is a great read really enjoyed it. There is a Hollywood Hellraisers too, focussing on Marlon Brandon, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicolson which I found no where near as enjoyable

Finally just started Gita Sereny's Albert Speer book, 900+ pages sp the 3rd Stormlight book will have to wait. It reminded me of this by Gita Sereny, it's on Frank Stangl. He ran 2 extermination camps, but he was no Goeth, he was efficient, he didn't rape or abuse but he ran the camps which were purely for murdering Jews. He also worked on the killing disabled and inconvenient people program before that. Surely to have done those things the glib assumption is that he was evil, he wasn't though. Very good read. Drifts a bit into the extent of Catholic churches involvement in helping Nazis escape, sits awkwardly, disrupts the book a bit and deserved a more detailed book of it's own.

Just finished Rat Pack Confidential by Shawn Levy, a whistle stop autobiography of the five Summit stars. Well worth a read. Some of the shit they got away with...

Reading Rubicon by Tom Holland. Breezy and a good read.

Also attempting to finish the Gormenghast Trilogy again. Seventh try at it.

Levy's book on Swinging London is good too - Ready Steady Go. For that matter, White Bicycles by Joe Boyd is a great memoir of the 60s music scene on both sides of the Atlantic that I'd always recommend.

I had to chuckle, doing a clean-up of the elementary school library I've just started working at. I found a book by a celebrated Canadian author that I have read (generally not a fan of his) and am pretty sure K-6 kids shouldn't be reading it just yet. Description of military action aside (they probably see worse in their video games or on telly/in movies), it's got a pretty detailed account of how he lost his virginity and of military-run brothels in WW2 (I'll move it to the high school I also work at, though).

I had another chuckle when I looked at the borrowing history. It hadn't been checked out in years, but back in 2012, a boy called Joe in Grade 5 checked it out four times in a row over the course of two months!

As far as recommendations go, it's a pretty good account of a junior Canadian officer's time in Italy from 44-45 (iirc).

I'm going through my library's collection, looking for old crap that's no longer of interest any more and wondered why we had 12 from this series, but not the first one. When I started reading reviews, I was shocked to learn that's basically American right-wing Christian propaganda ...

Makes me feel better about helping a girl find a book about cults today while her friends kept saying how weird she was. I imagine reading the above is way more dangerous! (The cult book was full of all the freaks who came to an unsavoury end, like the Manson Family, Koresh, Heaven's Gate, etc. and she kept saying she wasn't interested in joining one, but just fascinated by them. Fair enough. There were a few not-so-famous ones in Canada that are utterly fascinating, and terrifying, to read about.)

I'm going through my library's collection, looking for old crap that's no longer of interest any more and wondered why we had 12 from this series, but not the first one. When I started reading reviews, I was shocked to learn that's basically American right-wing Christian propaganda ...

Makes me feel better about helping a girl find a book about cults today while her friends kept saying how weird she was. I imagine reading the above is way more dangerous! (The cult book was full of all the freaks who came to an unsavoury end, like the Manson Family, Koresh, Heaven's Gate, etc. and she kept saying she wasn't interested in joining one, but just fascinated by them. Fair enough. There were a few not-so-famous ones in Canada that are utterly fascinating, and terrifying, to read about.)

I'm going through my library's collection, looking for old crap that's no longer of interest any more and wondered why we had 12 from this series, but not the first one. When I started reading reviews, I was shocked to learn that's basically American right-wing Christian propaganda ...

Makes me feel better about helping a girl find a book about cults today while her friends kept saying how weird she was. I imagine reading the above is way more dangerous! (The cult book was full of all the freaks who came to an unsavoury end, like the Manson Family, Koresh, Heaven's Gate, etc. and she kept saying she wasn't interested in joining one, but just fascinated by them. Fair enough. There were a few not-so-famous ones in Canada that are utterly fascinating, and terrifying, to read about.)

Most Fijian kids grew up reading those.

Can it be read as just a sci-fi story, or is it pretty blatant with the brainwashing? The reviews on Goodreads touch upon it, but these are all adults. They also say the quality of writing is terrible.

With these and the L Ron Hubbard books, I'm starting to wonder about my predecessor!

I acquired The Wheel of Time books 1-7 for free last night from the local public library (means no one's really read them in years ) I was going to transfer them to the school library I work at, but realised it already has Books 1-10. (I'm new, and building it up as best I can, having just sorted out the mess.)

Question for those who've read it, seeing as I'm keeping this series for myself now ... It's been hinted that books 7-10 are boring, that Jordan's last (couple?) pick up the pace and the posthumous ghost writer really did it justice with Jordan's notes.

Can / should I skip those boring books, or are the events essential - even if boring - to get to the end?

I acquired The Wheel of Time books 1-7 for free last night from the local public library (means no one's really read them in years ) I was going to transfer them to the school library I work at, but realised it already has Books 1-10. (I'm new, and building it up as best I can, having just sorted out the mess.)

Question for those who've read it, seeing as I'm keeping this series for myself now ... It's been hinted that books 7-10 are boring, that Jordan's last (couple?) pick up the pace and the posthumous ghost writer really did it justice with Jordan's notes.

Can / should I skip those boring books, or are the events essential - even if boring - to get to the end?

Franco's International Brigades, by Christopher Othen, about the foreigners who volunteered to fight for Nationalist Spain. Full of "Well, I Never" moments, such as the fact that nearly three times more foreigners volunteered for Franco than joined the International Brigades - admittedly mostly Moroccan mercenaries - though they are nearly entirely forgotten, Ireland and Portugal were the only other countries which sent more to Franco than the other side (in the end, Franco refused to send a boat to collect any more Irish volunteers) and a typically idiotic intervention by Jeremy Corbyn. Very entertaining.

Truly shocking secret history. Describes itself well, but if, like me, you wondered why the civil rights movement was necessary 100 years after the Civil War, this explains why. And Roy Moore just missed out being voted US Senator for Alabama.

Truly shocking secret history. Describes itself well, but if, like me, you wondered why the civil rights movement was necessary 100 years after the Civil War, this explains why. And Roy Moore just missed out being voted US Senator for Alabama.

Have you read The New Jim Crow? Harrowing. This looks good. Will look for it.

Just finished the Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett. Absolutely superb. Up there with China Mieville's Bas-Lag books. If your into speculative fiction, highly highly recommended. Every book is superb. Bit of a golden age for that genre at the moment.

I must get my hands on a copy. I bet it's fvcking outrageous. I believe one of his terms of endearment for his former boss was "The Prince of Pussy".

For a while, at least. It seems that little Frank's farewell tour was a few years before big Frank's. Not even a penile implant was able to get him back on the road.

I just ordered a copy from the UK. Unfortunately I just noticed the pre-fill booked my name the same as my street name. That might prove challenging when Mr Street turns up at the post office to collect his book.

Just finished the Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett. Absolutely superb. Up there with China Mieville's Bas-Lag books. If your into speculative fiction, highly highly recommended. Every book is superb. Bit of a golden age for that genre at the moment.

Just finished the Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett. Absolutely superb. Up there with China Mieville's Bas-Lag books. If your into speculative fiction, highly highly recommended. Every book is superb. Bit of a golden age for that genre at the moment.

? Sci-fi effectively?

No fantasy, but not your typical, great characters and storytelling set in an original setting, it's not medieval England for starters. Involves gods but really it's the characters that shine.

I acquired The Wheel of Time books 1-7 for free last night from the local public library (means no one's really read them in years ) I was going to transfer them to the school library I work at, but realised it already has Books 1-10. (I'm new, and building it up as best I can, having just sorted out the mess.)

Question for those who've read it, seeing as I'm keeping this series for myself now ... It's been hinted that books 7-10 are boring, that Jordan's last (couple?) pick up the pace and the posthumous ghost writer really did it justice with Jordan's notes.

Can / should I skip those boring books, or are the events essential - even if boring - to get to the end?

No. Don't even start reading them. Gift them to a kid you don't like.

This, unfortunately.

I was a big fan whilst a teenager, but the series becomes really slow and just plain bad around book 8. Jordan couldn't write female characters, throughout the series. I really enjoyed books 1-4, books 5,6,7 are OK-ish, then things go bad. The conclusion of the series was really a bit 'meh' for me, there is just so much crap to wade through from book 6 onwards, I finished the series purely because I started it, and had fond memories of getting into it as a teenager.

Start reading book 1, you may just like it. I still think the first 4 are good fantasy novels.

If you are looking to read an "epic fantasy series", read Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen'. 10 Books, already completed and it some of the best fantasy I have read, IMHO.

A standing ovation from me for Golden Hill, by Francis Spufford. Beautifully written story of an English visitor to New York in 1746, great plotting, historical detail and literary pastiche. Finished it in two days, absolutely outstanding.

I am currently reading Martin Meridith's The Fate of Africa. What depressing reading.

Truly depressing reading.

On the first book in the Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. Pretty good so far although I think something(s) may have been lost in translation. Still, not too bad. Trying to get my daughter interested in the Artemis Fowl books.